No ’can’t’ if one really believes
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 20, 2009 00:00
Yesterday, the nation marked Youth and Sports Day, a national holiday celebrated to mark the birth of modern Turkey’s independence struggle 90 years ago. We used the moment as did many others to reaffirm the principles of the Republic, the promise of youth and the carriage of values across generations.
We also took the opportunity to highlight ongoing, contemporary examples of the contributions of youth, including a story on a new film by young director Tolga Örnek. It was on the project in the early 1960s to produce the first Turkish car, the Revolution, designed and manufactured by a team of 23 young engineers 47 years ago. As Örnek put it in explaining the motivation of his film and its message to youth, "there is no ’can’t’ if one really believes."
We can think of no more powerful message for a country where something like half the population is below the age of 30. Turkey is a young nation with a young population. This is certainly part of the explanation for the combativeness, immaturity and impatience that is reflected across the social and political spectrum. But it also explains the energy, the creativity, the dynamism that define today’s Turkey as well. Turkey is blessed by this important resource, for within it lies the answers to all the country’s many challenges.
And it is worth reminding ourselves that those challenges are many.
We cannot move forward without acknowledging the symbolism that the eve of May 19 was the day that Türkan Saylan, one of the true pioneers in Turkish education and social development, lost the last of her many battles at the age of 74. That the woman credited with eradicating leprosy in Turkey and creating a foundation that has educated tens of thousands of young people, was so mistreated in her final days by the poorly focused "Ergenekon" investigation illustrates just one remaining challenge.
We also must not let the occasion of Youth and Sports Day pass without note of a study by the Ankara Young Businessmen’s Association that we reported on yesterday. More than 80 percent of Turks between the ages of 18 and 30 participate in no sport. More than one-third are unemployed. A clear majority, some 73.3 percent, would prefer to live in another country.
These findings are deeply disturbing. They should be taken to heart by leaders in politics, business, education and yes, journalism, too. Much work remains to be done on behalf of Turkey’s youth.
But we also note what we find the most important dimension of that study. This is that some 60 percent of respondents said if they were come back to the world again, the country where they would want to be born is this one: Turkey.
If so many of today’s youth, facing so much struggle, can voice this belief in the country’s future, so can the rest of us. Örnek is right. "There is no ’can’t’ if one really believes."
We can think of no more powerful message for a country where something like half the population is below the age of 30. Turkey is a young nation with a young population. This is certainly part of the explanation for the combativeness, immaturity and impatience that is reflected across the social and political spectrum. But it also explains the energy, the creativity, the dynamism that define today’s Turkey as well. Turkey is blessed by this important resource, for within it lies the answers to all the country’s many challenges.
And it is worth reminding ourselves that those challenges are many.
We cannot move forward without acknowledging the symbolism that the eve of May 19 was the day that Türkan Saylan, one of the true pioneers in Turkish education and social development, lost the last of her many battles at the age of 74. That the woman credited with eradicating leprosy in Turkey and creating a foundation that has educated tens of thousands of young people, was so mistreated in her final days by the poorly focused "Ergenekon" investigation illustrates just one remaining challenge.
We also must not let the occasion of Youth and Sports Day pass without note of a study by the Ankara Young Businessmen’s Association that we reported on yesterday. More than 80 percent of Turks between the ages of 18 and 30 participate in no sport. More than one-third are unemployed. A clear majority, some 73.3 percent, would prefer to live in another country.
These findings are deeply disturbing. They should be taken to heart by leaders in politics, business, education and yes, journalism, too. Much work remains to be done on behalf of Turkey’s youth.
But we also note what we find the most important dimension of that study. This is that some 60 percent of respondents said if they were come back to the world again, the country where they would want to be born is this one: Turkey.
If so many of today’s youth, facing so much struggle, can voice this belief in the country’s future, so can the rest of us. Örnek is right. "There is no ’can’t’ if one really believes."